Apple boasts 9 million iPhones sold in first weekend

The very best iPhone launch since the last one.

In what has become an annual tradition, Apple today announced that it has broken previous sales records for its latest iPhone launch, moving 9 million units since the phones went on sale this past Friday. The three-day total bests the 5 million in first-weekend sales of the iPhone 5 by some distance and should buoy Apple's bottom line for the fourth quarter.

Two factors certainly played into the sales results: China and the introduction of a second iPhone line. China, included in the list of launch markets for the first time, has demonstrated large demand for Apple's smartphone line and likely contributed substantially to the sales bump. This is also the first time buyers have had to choose between two different iPhone models, the 5S and the 5C. Demand for both was high, though some analysts worried that buyers would find the colorful and marginally less expensive 5C more appealing than the 5S, affecting the bottom line.

"This is our best iPhone launch yet," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement while assuring shoppers that Cupertino is working to produce more units as fast as possible to meet demand. Notably, Cook pointed out that Apple has exhausted its supplies of the 5S, leaving us to assume that 5C supply remains strong. A quick check on the Apple Store shows all colors, sizes, and varieties of the iPhone 5S as shipping in October, while all iPhone 5C variants ship within 24 hours.

Expect more sales numbers when Apple announces its fourth quarter results in about a month. And expect Apple's stock price to react in no reasonable way whatsoever.

How is this a new record? Did they sell more than 5 million 5S? The 5C certainly got people to upgrade earlier than they probably intended (compared to buying a 4S last year during the fall), but the same metric is not being used year to year.

Including China on launch day is probably the biggest mover.

Apple® today announced it has sold a record-breaking nine million new iPhone® 5s and iPhone 5c models,

It's impressive no matter how you slice it. If we count the 5C as a lower tier upgrade equivalent to getting a 4S when the 5 came out, then Apple sold 4 million lower tier phones over a single weekend, which I'm sure destroys the numbers for previous years. (Assuming the 5C accounts for the entire difference).

Initial reports seem to suggest the 5S was the better selling of the two devices though (although perhaps China will skew the results more than anticipated).

And sure, China is included in this year's launch (along with Puerto Rico), so that certainly accounts for some of the inflation in sales numbers, but it's still sales. If you consider how long Apple has been negotiating with different carriers in China, that alone is a significant announcement.

If you're an Apple stock holder, the numbers look great (high end estimates were suggesting 6 million sales). If you're worried how much this will move the needle in Android vs. iPhone marketshare in North America, you're kind of missing the point.

They already moved their supply chain from iPhone 5 to 5C and probably had enough of supply of them.

Apple has excellent supply chain management. They've been cranking out the 5 in vast numbers and given that the 5C is the 5 in a new (very nice, fwiw) case, cranking out 5C in vast numbers is easy. On the other hand, the 5S is new and more complicated. It's not surprising that Apple' hasn't been able to ramp up their volume yet. They will in a couple of quarters, but right now supplies are constrained vs. the established chain for the 5C.

Assuming that half the buyers were women, and that Lee Hutchinson's experiences in Houston can be extended globally, that means there must be at least 4.5 million lesbians with the disposable income to buy the latest iDevice on their launch weekend, worldwide. All we've got to do is retool industry tap this lucrative market, and all our financial issues are solved.

I have to wonder who these analysts are, because I've yet to find anybody excited about the 5c. It's not substantially cheaper than the 5s and is less future proof.

Generally people who like Extreme Spreadsheeting as a form of recreation. Rarely found in the wild but often found in banks and consultancy firms, they co-habitat with MBAs and statisticians but can't be kept in the same enclosures as regulators because they compete for resources.

They already moved their supply chain from iPhone 5 to 5C and probably had enough of supply of them.

Apple has excellent supply chain management. They've been cranking out the 5 in vast numbers and given that the 5C is the 5 in a new (very nice, fwiw) case, cranking out 5C in vast numbers is easy. On the other hand, the 5S is new and more complicated. It's not surprising that Apple' hasn't been able to ramp up their volume yet. They will in a couple of quarters, but right now supplies are constrained vs. the established chain for the 5C.

I'm actually surprised, given the similarities. I suspect a key component is supply constrained, perhaps the 28nm SoC or their optical sensor, possibly their TouchID sensor.

Pretty significant if they push a couple million more for launch. The more interesting number. I wonder how much of an impact China was on 5S sales.

Come PS4 and Xbone launch, it will be hard to gauge 1st week sales due to region launch dates.

They sold out. Doesn't really matter, if they had more they could have sold them.

Its the same every year. So the gains they have to make 1 year is not just in a new device, but continue to improve their supply chain. Are there not enough factories? Do they not give them enough time to start making the new hardware? Will they put iPhone assembly online in USA?

What is probably most important is to keep supply up for the holiday. You do not want to have over capacity and waste money making to much inventory at one time. But as long as they everyone can get one this holiday and the holiday quarter jumps compared to last year gives the better picture on the yearly gain.

Glad I doubled-down after the stock sank on the 11th! Good on Apple. All of these smug pudits beating this 'evolutionary not revolutionary' drum make me a little sick. You'd think that they'd be thrilled with a company with low-debt, a small pe ratio and rock-solid earnings.

Glad I doubled-down after the stock sank on the 11th! Good on Apple. All of these smug pudits beating this 'evolutionary not revolutionary' drum make me a little sick. You'd think that they'd be thrilled with a company with low-debt, a small pe ratio and rock-solid earnings.

You'd think that by now most people would have actually seen the trend. It's almost like clockwork that there's a rumor of an announcement, hype goes to the max, and people start adding stuff to the rumors until it's completely illogical for apple to fulfill them... then they get underwhelmed and upset by the actual product announcement, and the stock drops... only for it actually sell rather well and the stock goes back up.

Glad I doubled-down after the stock sank on the 11th! Good on Apple. All of these smug pudits beating this 'evolutionary not revolutionary' drum make me a little sick. You'd think that they'd be thrilled with a company with low-debt, a small pe ratio and rock-solid earnings.

I almost think they deliberately do that with the intention of driving the stock down a bit so they can top up their portfolios, with the expectation that it'll shoot back up again in a couple weeks.

Its the same every year. So the gains they have to make 1 year is not just in a new device, but continue to improve their supply chain. Are there not enough factories? Do they not give them enough time to start making the new hardware? Will they put iPhone assembly online in USA?

I don't think they were afraid of overcapacity.

There is always a struggle when engineering stops, testing ends, and production begins. Very hard to orchestrate this new-phone one year manufacturing cadence: All new manufacturing techniques, part ramping, tool chains (software), iOS 7. Yields have to align, etc. Don't be fooled that the outside is similar.

Its the same every year. So the gains they have to make 1 year is not just in a new device, but continue to improve their supply chain. Are there not enough factories? Do they not give them enough time to start making the new hardware? Will they put iPhone assembly online in USA?

I don't think they were afraid of overcapacity.

There is always a struggle when engineering stops, testing ends, and production begins. Very hard to orchestrate this new-phone one year manufacturing cadence: All new manufacturing techniques, part ramping, tool chains (software), iOS 7. Yields have to align, etc. Don't be fooled that the outside is similar.

I'm personally amazed they got that many phones built.

You would think with the same chassis design they could produce more. Probably the components are different enough to require a bit of retooling. I imagine the engineers try to limit that as much as possible tho.

Its the same every year. So the gains they have to make 1 year is not just in a new device, but continue to improve their supply chain. Are there not enough factories? Do they not give them enough time to start making the new hardware? Will they put iPhone assembly online in USA?

I don't think they were afraid of overcapacity.

There is always a struggle when engineering stops, testing ends, and production begins. Very hard to orchestrate this new-phone one year manufacturing cadence: All new manufacturing techniques, part ramping, tool chains (software), iOS 7. Yields have to align, etc. Don't be fooled that the outside is similar.

I'm personally amazed they got that many phones built.

You would think with the same chassis design they could produce more. Probably the components are different enough to require a bit of retooling. I imagine the engineers try to limit that as much as possible tho.

No doubt having a chassis and the growing pains / lessons learned of the previous model helped but you still have a new chip on a new process, new internal design, new battery, and a new technology (the authentic chip) with a rather extraordinarily dense home button. Really amazing how apple engineering pulled this off and manufacturing had time to produce this much.

Actually, according to Apple's 10k filing with the SEC, SHIPPED == SOLD

Look, I don't know if either of you are sarcastic or serious, but in reality shipped != sold. Blackberry, for example, has had multiple instances of shipping devices and then having to write them off as unsold inventory later. Likewise for Microsoft's Surface RT, Zune, and kin.

Now obviously every company is a different situation. Apple's sales are vastly more than their channel inventory, so you can approximate for them that shipped == sold. They also haven't taken a major inventory write-down since the G4 cube in the year 2000. Samsung, on the other hand, produces a huge number of products, many of which are low volume unlike the galaxy line. That raises the possibility of them not selling through. It would be far, far more transparent of them to provide actual sales numbers, but of course they won't be doing that until the sales numbers start favouring them, if ever.

One of the things people need to remember are the reports from China that the iPhone 5 was the most difficult to manufacture device that Foxconn had ever dealt with.

Quote:

"The iPhone 5 is the most difficult device that Foxconn has ever assembled. To make it light and thin, the design is very complicated," said an anonymous company official to The Wall Street Journal. "It takes time to learn how to make this new device.